The present disclosure is related generally to the field of dental treatment. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to using a dental positioning appliance to facilitate the movement of one or more teeth.
Some dental processes use positioning appliances for realigning teeth (e.g., some orthodontic processes). Such appliances may utilize a thin shell of material having resilient properties, referred to as an “aligner”, which generally conforms to a patient's teeth but is slightly out of alignment with the initial tooth configuration.
Placement of such an appliance over the teeth provides controlled forces in specific locations to gradually move the teeth into a new configuration. Repetition of this process with successive appliances that provide progressive repositioning may eventually move the teeth through a series of intermediate arrangements to a final desired arrangement, which then may allow positioning of the dental implant to occur at that time.
Another alignment technique is the use of metallic bands that are attached to teeth by a treatment professional. These bands cannot be easily removed by the patient and typically include a metallic bracket on the side of the band that is to be positioned on the buccal side of a tooth. Brackets may also be bonded directly to the tooth surface. Then, a rubber band or other suitable ligature is used to retain a pre-bent wire to each bracket. Some brackets are designed to incorporate a self-ligating feature that is integral to the bracket.
The pre-bent wire is pre-bent by the treatment professional. The accuracy of such bending is dependent upon a number of factors including the expertise of the treatment professional, the tools used, and the information used to determine the shape of the wire.
Since the bands and/or brackets generally cannot be removed without the assistance of a treatment professional, they can be uncomfortable and/or difficult to keep clean thus leading to the potential increase of dental caries. Further, since the bands around the teeth, wire, and rubber bands are generally opaque, the patient may feel awkward wearing the apparatus in some situations. Such an apparatus may be particularly identifiable based upon the presence of the wire and/or brackets on the buccal side of the teeth.